Built from recycled materials and packed with a slew of energy saving features, the Dell G2210t is one of the greenest displays around.

Designed to help businesses reduce energy costs, the Dell G2210t ($209 direct) takes "green" to a whole new level. In addition to its low power characteristics, this streamlined 22-inch display uses environmentally friendly LED backlighting and is manufactured from recycled materials. Even its shipping packaging is environmentally friendly. The monitor does a fine job of displaying small text and delivers bold colors too, but its grayscale performance is merely average and it lacks a few key features.

Similar Products

Design
Dell went to great lengths to make sure that the G2210t is as green as it can be. The use of mercury-free LED backlighting, arsenic-free glass, and recyclable corrugated cardboard packaging earned it an EPEAT Gold certification, but its greenness doesn't end there. The cabinet is made from recycled plastics and the cables are free of materials that impact the environment, including PVCs (Polyvinyl Chloride), BFRs (Brominated Flame Retardants), and CFRs (Chlorinated Flame Retardants). Not to mention the monitor's energy-saving technology, which can cut power usage in half. All of this, along with Energy Star certification, makes the G2210t a lock for our GreenTech seal of approval.

The 22-inch TN panel has a maximum resolution of 1680 by 1050 pixels and a 16:10 aspect ratio and uses low voltage LED backlighting rather than the usual CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) lighting. The screen uses a matte anti-glare coating, so ambient light reflection is not an issue. The plain black cabinet, made from recycled plastics, sports a thin bezel with a chrome Dell badge on the lower edge. The rectangular stand is sturdy enough but doesn't offer much in the way of flexibility; the panel can be tilted forward and backward but lacks height, pivot, and swivel maneuverability. A neat little tray molded into the base is ideal for holding thumb drives, paper clips, and other small items.

Features
There are four unmarked function buttons, an ambient light sensor. and a backlit power switch positioned along the lower right side of the screen, The buttons are used to access and navigate the OSD (on screen display) menus, and two of them can be programmed as hot keys to make quick image adjustments or to change power settings quickly. Tweaking image settings such as color temperature, sharpness, clock, phase, and luminance, is simple, thanks to an intuitive menu system consisting of easily identifiable icons and sliders that show you exactly where each setting is, both graphically and numerically.

The G2210t doesn't offer much in the way of connectivity features; it lacks an HDMI port and there are no USB ports. Video inputs are limited to one VGA port and one DVI port, but it does come with a nice three-year warranty and is eligible for Dell's Advanced Exchange program.

What the G2210t lacks in ergonomic and connectivity features it makes up for with power saving savvy. In addition to the light sensorwhich detects ambient light and adjusts the screen's brightness accordinglythere's a Dynamic Dimming feature which decreases the brightness level when the current screen image is predominantly white or contains lots of brightly lit areas. This comes in handy when working with documents on a white background, or when viewing very bright Web pages. But the dimming feature takes a little getting used to as it changes brightness levels on the fly and can be a bit distracting.

There are three Energy Modes to choose from: Energy Smart Plus, Energy Smart, and Standard. The Energy Smart Plus mode is the most efficient as it doesn't allow the panel's brightness level to rise above 160 nits (maximum brightness is 250 nits), and it automatically enables the ambient light sensor function and the Dynamic Dimming feature. With this mode selected, the monitor drew around 10 watts while viewing the PCMag.com homepage (as measured by the Kill-A-Watt meter), as opposed to 20 watts while operating in standard mode (with all settings at their factory defaults). Similarly, the Energy Smart mode caps the brightness at 180 nits and enables the light sensor, but dynamic dimming is disabled. The monitor drew an average of 12 watts of power in this mode. Even with the brightness capped at 160 nits I thought the panel was quite bright and more than adequately lit for Web surfing and general office use, but you may want to switch over to standard mode to brighten up the picture while watching movies.

Performance
The G2210t turned in mixed results on the DisplayMate (www.displaymate.com) suite of diagnostic tests. The lightest shades of gray were compressed at the high end of the scale, resulting in some loss of highlight detail on my test photo. The panel also had trouble displaying the two darkest shades of gray, which appeared black. Still, overall image quality was quite good. Primary colors appeared bold and ramped evenly from dark to light on the 256 Intensity Level Color Ramp test, and the panel did a great job of displaying small text; Arial fonts set to 5.3 points were crisp and well defined. Viewing angles were as advertised (170-degrees horizontal, 160-degrees vertical). With a pixel response of 5 milliseconds pixel response rate (black-to-white), the G2210t did a good job of handling motion on my 3D gaming and DVD video tests. Fast action sequences during a round of Far Cry 2 played smoothly and were artifact-free. The BBC's "Planet Earth" DVD looked magnificent on the widescreen, too. Colors were sharp and the panel showed no signs of ghosting or blurring.

For a little more than $200, the Dell G2210t is a great choice for businesses and consumers alike. Its excellent power saving features and environment friendly design make it easy to overlook its grayscale performance and lack of ergonomic and connectivity features. If you absolutely must have a high degree of adjustability and a few more connections, consider the GreenTech approved HP LP2275w, but be prepared to spend a bit more.

Read More

About the Author

As a Contributing Editor for PCMag, John Delaney has been testing and reviewing monitors, TVs, PCs, networking and smart home gear, and other assorted hardware and peripherals for almost 20 years. A 13-year veteran of PC Magazine's Labs (most recently as Director of Operations), John was responsible for the recruitment, training and management of t... See Full Bio

Dell G2210t

Dell G2210t

Get Our Best Stories!

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.